Project Native takes over at Sunways Farm

(L to R): Danielle Adams,Carrie Petrik, Rachel Dworkin, Raina Weber, Lyndsay Schandell, Teri Weber and Angel Fraser at Simon's Rock Project Native provides Berkshire County residents a smart alternative to invasive plants commonly found at nurseries

On May 5 the Berkshire Natural Resources Council proudly conveyed Sunways Farm to Project Native and the Railroad Street Youth Project. This marks a new chapter for Sunways, a 52-acre former dairy just minutes from downtown Great Barrington with an interesting, if at times imperiled record as a place for experiments in community and agriculture.

The transaction also signified a great leap forward for Project Native, the youth-run native plant nursery that began life under the wing of Great Barrington's Railroad Street Youth Project.

Having started on a quarter-acre plot, Project Native has now established itself as an independent 501(c)3 charitable organization, stretching its wings and following its dreams on a much larger piece of land. With the additional space and infrastructure come vast new opportunities - and challenges.

Those paying close attention may recall that the revitalization of Sunways Farm had been slated as a joint venture between Project Native and the New England Heritage Breeds Conservancy, which engages in the revitalization of grass-based agriculture and the traditional livestock breeds that sustained Northeastern family farms before the advent of industrial agribusiness.

Ultimately, Heritage Breeds priorities lay elsewhere, and the organization moved on. The turn saddened the parties still at the table, but it did not slow them, and today Project Native looks forward to a bright future at Sunways.

Since moving in, Project Native has cleaned up the farm and has welcomed sheep and swine onto the farm (along with customers, funders and landscape architects!). The staff converted a small shed into a market center, and the organization has launched a seed bank, collecting seeds out in the wilds and propagating new plants at the farm.

Project Native is simultaneously helping to create and tapping into a growing market for native plants fueled by rising public concern over the adverse impacts of invasive non-native species such as Japanese barberry, honeysuckle, and the ubiquitous phragmites. Along with many private customers, this summer the group landed a large institutional contract with Simon's Rock College of Bard.

Project Native is the latest trendsetter to set up at Sunways. In the 1990s, the farm provided a home for Mahaiwe Harvest, one of the first community supported agriculture projects in the country. Elizabeth Keen and Al Thorp, proprietors of Indian Line Farm, and Morven Allen, one of the most progressive young dairy farmers in the state, all passed through Sunways at early stages in their careers.